Double division lines

[TwoDot]

I need to have some clarification or direction on what is the procedure to use for a ten second violation on a small nonstandard court that uses 2 division lines instead of just one.

I worked a game last week that is in a very small gym, about 4 inches from one wall to court, other wall is about 2 feet away. This Court is marked so that the division lines are the recommended distance to have a standard front court.

I have always been told by the senior officials that the first line crossed is the ten second line which is about 4 feet from the top of the free throw circle in the back court.

The visiting assistant coach wanted to know why they did not have to cross the farthest line first to establish frontcourt status and then revert to the line farthest away from their basket for backcourt violations. This had happened in the girls game before my game. I told her what I understood to be the procedure and told her that I would verify for her and myself. However, I cannot find anything in the books that says anything concerning this situation. The result is that a press is not very effective for getting a ten second call.

I had thought that there was a casebook ruling or something in the past maybe that would cover this. Anybody have some help for me?

I covered the way that we were going to call the game in the coaches/captains meeting and everyone was fine with that. The school is a very small and old rural district so a new gym is probably out of the question. Thanks for the input!

[bob jenkins]

The home team coach should have been able to verify this, but the team must cross the line closest to its basket (the basket it's shooting at) within 10 seconds, and then can retreat to the line farthest from its basket without penalty.

[Back In The Saddle]

My understanding is that as a team are coming from their backcourt to their frontcourt, they have to cross both lines. Once they've done that, they can go back as far as the first line. But I haven't found anything official on that.

[Back In The Saddle]

You're quick, Bob

[M&M Guy]

Bob and BITS stated it how I've always been taught. We still have a couple of grade school gyms around here that use the double line. I believe the idea is that the players must travel the "full size" backcourt to avoid the 10-sec. violation by getting past the second line, then once they're in the front court, the first line becomes the "over-and-back" line so the players have a "full size" front court. The two areas are just overlapped in between the two lines.

Good luck sorting who's front court and backcourt when there are 5 turnovers in that overlapping area...

We don't have any double division lines but if the gym is small we give them 10 seconds to pass half (the middle line where they take the initial jump to start the game) then they are allowed to move back to the other line.

This is probably less complicated in establishing front court and back court status on multiple turnovers since the line that you use for both to establish front court status is actually in the middle of the gym (the same for both).